Lock Every Door: A Novel

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. How did you respond to the revelations about Nick Bartholomew’s family history? How did this plot twist confirm or subvert your expectations and change your impressions of the narrative?

2. The novel uses Jules Larsen’s experiences at the Bartholemew to explore the effects of financial insecurity on personal safety. How does your relationship with money compare to those of Jules and the Bartholomew residents? 

3. Which aspects of Jules’s behaviors or motivations were least and most resonant with your own experience? Why?

4. The novel is primarily set at the Bartholemew. What kind of culture does the Bartholomew breed? How is this culture different for each resident, and why?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. The novel explores the psychological effects of isolation and loneliness. How do Jules’s experiences at the Bartholomew relate to the contemporary loneliness epidemic? How does her experience of isolation impact her?

2. The Bartholomew is located in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Explore the relevance of this setting to the novel’s moods and atmospheres. How would Jules’s experiences change if the Bartholomew were located in a different neighborhood or city?

3. The author uses the Bartholomew’s illicit underground operation to explore notions of vulnerability and exploitation. How does Sager use this facet of the narrative to comment on the wealth gap in the United States? Cite specific examples from the text.

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. Lock Every Door is written from Jules’s first-person point of view. Explore the narrative and thematic significance of this formal choice. How does Jules’s voice and interiority drive the narrative tension and trajectory? How would the novel differ if it were written from the third-person limited point of view?

2. Discuss the roles that characters like Greta Manville and Dr. Nick play in Jules’s personal journey. How does Jules’s regard for Greta and Nick evolve over the course of the novel? What does her perception of these people imply about her own character?

3. Discuss the significance of the Bartholomew’s mysterious atmosphere. How does the author use figurative language and sensory details to breathe life into this setting? 

4. Jules’s relationship with Heart of a Dreamer is featured heavily throughout the novel. Explore the significance of her attachment to the book, both in the context of her personal history and her life at the Bartholomew.